How To Store Leafy Greens Fresh In The Fridge

I had been on a low carb diet for almost three years and am an occasional non-vegetarian for the last one year. So what do I eat on a daily basis..

Cabbage ;

I love cabbage but some time back I was convinced by reports that those having thyroid issues should consume cabbage less. 🙁

Cauliflower;

I like it but hate to see those crawlers winking at me as I cut it open to make my favourite cauliflower rice. 🙁

Spinach; Lettuce;

Well now the problem with these is that these leaves are very soft and so difficult to keep them for long in the refrigerator. 🙁

So now my point here is that when these vegetables are in season you can have them to your heart ful but what to do when you don’t get them in the market. Not only that, I can’t go to the market on a daily basis to buy fresh green leafy veggies, so how to preserve them for future use for as much time as I can. I was thinking of some way out when I read a few very good suggestions on the internet. Today in this post I am going to share with you how I am handling my green vegetables so that I can use them throughout the year. (Yes I mean it) 😀

Coriander and Lettuce

Coriander and Lettuce can be preserved by wrapping up in kitchen towels or news papers. Wrap the lot well and store in fridge. Both leaves stay fresh for more than a week. Coriander can be kept in fridge in this way also:

Lettuce too can be kept in a zip bag wrapped in tissue paper, but the bag should not be closed from top. It stays for more than 10 days in my fridge.

Spinach

Spinach is another thing which I need throughout the year and the problem with green leafy vegetables is that they don’t stay more than a day or two in refrigerator so thinking of keeping them for a longer period of months altogether seemed impossible when I found out ways for that too. OOhh!! I know I am the best… 😉

Fresh for a week

To keep leaves fresh in the fridge for around a week I just snip off the bottom part of spinach bunches and dip the bottoms in a glass of water. Then keep that glass in fridge and enjoy fresh spinach leaves for a week till you stock up a new lot of greens in the fridge.

Another way of keeping spinach leaves fresh for more than a week in fridge is to keep like this….

Or you can just simply wrap up the whole lot in an old news paper or kitchen towels / hand towels like this :

And now this is something I love to preserve spinach in… Take a look:

Just wash spinach, make a puree in blender and fill up the old ice trays. Freeze and store in Ziplock bags. You can use these when you need for soups, gravies and smoothies or wherever you want. 🙂

Spinach can be preserved in cube form for many months.

Another thing that can be preserved for a long period in freezer is Fresh green Peas. My son is very fond of ‘Green peas masala pulao’, well I am the only one on a low carb diet in my family.. others eat rice and grains in all the meals, well not that I am jealous or something but yes most of the times it becomes difficult to resist that aroma of basmati rice and hot peas…. Ummmm!!! I can smell it right now. Its so yumm. 🙂 So now problem is that I don’t get peas throughout the year but my son wants pulao every second day…. so I decided to preserve green peas for the whole year. How I do it is here:

Peas

In winters when vegetable market is overflowing with peas and you get them as cheap as Rs 20 a kilo, I buy around 20 kilos of green peas which comes cheaper than those 20Rs too. While watching TV at night I peal them and give a good wash, let them dry overnight and in the morning pack in either ziplock bags or normal veggie nylon net or cloth bags. Done that all bags go in the freezer and then they are good to go for a full year… whenever you want to use green peas just take out required quantity from the bag and use in your dishes.

This is what my home made frozen peas look like after a six months in freezer. When cooked they are as good as fresh green peas. 🙂

How To Store Leafy Greens Fresh In The Fridge